OUR NAME AND IDENTITY
Text: Proverbs 22: 1 – 2, 8 – 9 & 22 – 23
Someone once said “True wealth is not found in gold, silver or other tangible forms of treasure. It is found in the possession of a reputation for honor, integrity, and justice”. (Walter Bruggemann, Charles B. Cousar, Beverly R. Gaventa, James D. Newsome. Texts For Preaching: Year B. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1993, p. 495). We live in an age when people will try to steal the identity of someone else to gain material things. The villains of identity theft often get ahead at the expense of their victims. I just recently read about how one man who spent almost forty years seeking to regain his good name as a result of identity theft. After hearing about a story like this, we can see much more clearly how a good name is more desirable than riches.
From these passages in Proverbs, we can see that God wants us to be truthful, honorable, merciful and humble. These same passages illustrate our potential for our names, positions, judgments and behaviors.
NAME AND IDENTITY
Can we really separate who we are from what we do? There are two things that we can say about children of Israel and their culture: 1) “For Israel. Praise and life were inseparable partners”. 2) “Israel was an honor and shame culture.” (Leander E. Keck. ed. The New Interpreter’s Bible. Volume V. Raymond C. Van Leeuwen. “Proverbs”. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1997, pp. 125, 197). From those two things we can go on to ask two other questions. Does our public face match our private face? Does our reputation match our character? Our reputation is based upon the perceptions of others for both the good or bad. Our character is who we really are warts and all. When someone is the same person in public as they are in private, we call them genuine or authentic. When someone has a public face that does not match the behavior of their private face, we call them two-faced.
Can you recall a tradition that your family had or has about remembering who you are? When I was growing up my mother always put her hands on us and prayed a quick prayer for us before we went out the door. When she was doing that she was praying for our protection from danger. Then she would say to us “Remember who you are.” I still remember that tradition well.
POSITION AND JUDGEMENT
We are all created with God-given ambition for our growth and development. 1) We also have a responsibility to help those who need our help. We live in relationship to other people. 2) Paul cautions us about not to think to highly of ourselves (Romans 12: 3). 3) Paul also reminds us that we are called to be living sacrifices because this is part of our spiritual worship (Romans 12:1). 4) Paul echoes Jesus because Jesus said that we are to love one another so that others will know that we are His disciples (John 13:34 – 35). 5) We live out that love in serving others as we follow the example of Jesus who came not to be served, but to serve (Matthew 20:28).
Do we abuse our positions? Proverbs 22:2 cautions us against being to proud and arrogant with our positions because e of the fact that God is the Creator of us all. 1) Paul says that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (I Corinthians 4:2 NIV). 2) “… to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it” (Ephesians 4:7). 3) We have to remember to have “… sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith that God has given us” (Romans 12:3 NIV). 4) We are all one in Jesus Christ, regardless of our earthly distinctions of male, female, slave or free, Jew or Greek (Galatians 3:28). 5) Jesus put it this way: “Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him” (Matthew 13:12, 25:29 NIV). What did Jesus mean by that? It seems to mean two things as someone (Sherman E. Johnson) put it. A) It means “The more generous you are [in almsgiving or in teaching], the more you will ultimately possess”. (George A. Buttrick. ed. The Interpreter’s Bible. Volume 7. Forty-seventh printing. Sherman E. Johnson. “The Gospel According To Matthew: Introduction and Exegesis.” Nashville, 1987, p. 411). B) It also means that “Not to use an opportunity means to lose it”. (Sherman E. Johnson, p. 561). We have a tendency to abuse our positions when we judge others as worthy or not worthy because God made us all.
THE GOLDEN RULE
The world seems to have its own golden rule. 1) The secular version of this rule seems to be that “he who has the gold makes the rules”. 2) It is possible for a person to appear needy, when indeed they might be greedy because of their intentions. 3) Someone (Warren W. Wiersbe) calls this pseudo-needy group “thieves”. He said that they are “lazy people who never work but expect others to take care of them”. (Warren W. Wiersbe. The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete Old Testament In One Volume. Colorado Springs: 2007, p. 1077). It is one thing to be pseudo-needy, but it altogether another thing to be openly-greedy. 4) We live in a world where selfish ambition has created chaos in the world economy. 5) The world seems to teach that if you have enough gold, you can make your own rules. 6) The world also teaches us to look out for big number one, namely ourselves. 7) Jesus teaches just the opposite. (A) Jesus teaches us that people the people who strive trying to gain the whole world also forfeit their souls (Matthew 16:25). (B) Jesus also teaches that real discipleship is in following Him comes denying ourselves, picking up our crosses and following after Him (Matthew 16:24).
Matthew 7:12 gives us the authentic Golden Rule. Matthew 7:12 says “So in everything, do to others as you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the prophets” (NIV). In other words, it seems that Jesus was telling others to “trade places” with the other person so that we would truly consider treating them as we would wish to be treated if we ourselves were that other person. John Wesley put it this way:
“Do all the good that you can.
By all the means you can.
In all the ways you can.
In all the places you can.
At all the times you can.
To all the people you can.
As long as you can.”
(Stanley Sowton. John Wesley: Heroes Of The Cross. Grand Rapids: Zonderavn Publishing House, 1953, p. 69).
John Wesley also said, “If those who ‘gain all they can’ and ‘save all they can’ will likewise ‘give all they can’ then, the more they gain the more they will grow in grace, and the more treasure they will lay up in heaven”. (Lovett H. Weems. Jr.. John Wesley’s Message Today. Nashville: Abingdon press, 1991, p. 73). Another thing that the world teaches us is that “he who dies with the most toys wins”. Therefore, regardless of what the world teaches, he who has the most toys when he dies still dies. It has never been about what we can gain, but rather how we give, live and serve.
TRADING PLACES
Jesus traded places with us. 1) Jesus left all the glory of heaven and stooped down to us in human flesh (Philippians 2:6 – 8) to teach us how to live, love, serve and give in His name as His disciples. 2) Remember Barabbas (Matthew 27:15 -26)? We are the epitome of Barabbas, because Jesus took our place. Jesus paid the price for ours sins (see I Corinthians 6:20), to reconcile and justify (see Romans 5:9 – 11) all who repent of their sins. 3) Jesus gave us grace when we spiritually bankrupt!: Jesus gave us of His riches. Consider II Corinthians 8:9: “For You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though [H]e was rich, yet for your sakes [H]e became poor, so that through [H]is poverty we might become rich” (NIV). Jesus also gave us of us His righteousness in exchange for our sins at the cross (II Corinthians 5:21) . We therefore cannot separate who we are from how we serve in His name. 4) We too, must trade places by denying ourselves and pick up our crosses and follow the ways of Jesus.
How well do we trade places and deny ourselves to serve Jesus as His disciples? This is one of those questions that reminds us that we have to walk the Christian talk of a godly life. As someone ( Donald N. Mosser) put it, “The tracks we made yesterday may be the track that we later walk in again”. He goes a step further giving an illustration to back up the truth of this statement. He illustrates … “One day a good, rich man noticed the miserable conditions in which a certain poor carpenter lived. He decided to help the poor man and commissioned him to build a beautiful house. He told the carpenter “ I want this house to be ideal. Use only the best materials, employ only the best workers, and spare no expense. The rich man informed the carpenter that he was going on a journey, and he hoped the carpenter would complete the house before his return.” Naturally, the carpenter saw this as an opportunity where he could profit as he skimped on materials and hired inferior workers and covered their mistakes with paint. The carpenter wound up making a profit. Later, the rich man returned from his journey and the carpenter brought him a key to this house that he had been hired to build. The carpenter even claimed that he followed the rich man’s instructions on building materials, quality and the best of workers. The rich man handed him the key back and told him that the house that he had built was for himself and his family. (Donald N. Mosser. Ed. The Abingdon Preaching Annual 2005 Edition. Donald N. Mosser. “Reflections: January”. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2004, pp. 37 -38). The carpenter made money but at his own future expense. How many people are living with the same kind of mindset as this carpenter who was going to be walking in some of the same tracks that he made earlier? This passage in Proverbs reminds us that we cannot separate who we are from what we do. This passage in Proverbs also helps us to see that we have choices that impact our name and identity for better or worse. If we follow God’s design and embrace His wisdom, then we will preserve the value of our name for the better!
